The present invention relates to agricultural implements and, in particular, the present invention relates to forage wrapping devices, such as bale wrappers, and methods of preserving forage.
For many years it was a typical agricultural process to cut forage, allow some drying to occur, rake it into windrows for further drying, then collect and store the forage at a desirable moisture content. Handling and storage of the cut forage was simplified by baling. Over roughly the past generation, a shift has occurred in the sizing of the bales. Earlier bales could be lifted and carried by an individual. More modern bales are massive units (from several hundred to a thousand pounds) of tightly bound and compressed forage). Accompanying this shift has been a shift in storage from piles of smaller bales, often stored indoors or covered outdoors, to outdoor storage of individual large bales or rows of large bales. More recently, the large bales have been covered in plastic sheeting to protect them from rain and snow and reduce their exposure to oxygen. One approach is to use a large plastic bag to surround the large bale. Another is to use overlapping helical wraps of plastic sheeting. Noteworthy examples are the disclosures of Anderson in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,124 and Reeves in U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,864.
The present invention provides a solution to wrapping a single large bale or more preferably a series of large bales. These bales are wrapped faster and more efficiently than the prior art wrapping devices allow. Other aspects of the present invention provide for versatility and fine adjustments in wrapping operations while improving the safety of operators.